Pliers for attaching snap fasteners



g- 1964 M. J. CARPINELLA 3, 5,388

PLIERS FOR ATTACHING SNAP FASTENERS Filed April 20, 1962 ORNEY UnitedStates Patent 3,145,388 iLlERS FOR ATTACHTN SNAP FASTENERS Michael J.Carpinella, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company,Waterbury, Conm, a corporation of Connecticut Fiied Apr. 20, 1962, Ser.No. 189,057 2 Claims. (Cl. 1317) This invention relates to tools forsetting snap fasteners upon a supporting material such as a garmentpiece.

The type of tool now being used for this purpose is a simple pair ofpliers wherein the jaws of the pliers swing in an arc of a circle withthe fulcrum as a center, and carry suitable fastener setting dies ontheir jaw ends. One of the faults of this type of pliers is that thesetting dies carried by the jaws cannot adjust themselves to the variousthicknesses of material to which the fastener member may be attached.Consequently, under certain conditions, the interengaging elements of afastener member will be biased to each other sufiiciently to result inan insecure setting such that might tear out of a garment in normal use.

It is one of the objects of this invention to overcome the above faultby providing dies that can be detachably secured to the jaws of a pairof pliers and also, loosely fitted to said jaws 'and provided with abase that can rock upon the jaw support surface so that the workingfaces of the dies can always assume a parallel position to each otherand assure uniform pressure on allparts of the fastener elements duringthe setting operation.

It is another object of this invention to overcome the above fault byproviding dies that can be detachably and loosely fitted to said jaws,and wherein the element gripping means on the jaws are such that theywill not interfere with each other regardless of the indiscriminaterotation of the dies relative to their respective jaws or to each other.In other words, the dies do not have to be registered relative to eachother.

A still further object of the invention is to avoid the danger ofbreakage by making the dies of a hard plastic material with some degreeof resiliency and wherein the gripping means are made as a firm andintegral part of the die body. The die body is transversely grooved toprovide the necessary resilient action to that portion of the bodycarrying the gripping means so that a fastener element can be forcedinto snap-locking with said gripping means.

Other objects and advantages will appear from a reading of the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a pair of common pliers supporting the diesembodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view through the jaws and die ends of the pliersin open position and showing the socket elements assembled in theirrespective dies;

MG. 3 is a similar view showing the dies positioning the elementsagainst the support, preliminary to the final setting operation;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of one of the jaw ends and a die thatreceives the stud element, taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same; and,

FIG. 6 is a similar view of FIG. 4 taken along the line 66 of FIG. 5.

The tool as disclosed in the drawing now to be further described, isadapted to set that type of snap fastener such as shown in the FentonPatent 2,131,347 known in the trade as a duo-type fastener. In thisfastener, the socket and the stud can be attached by the same kind ofprong ring.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral 10 desig- Patented Aug. 25,1964 nates a common pair of pliers having handles 11 and 12 and jaws 13and 14 pivoted at a fulcrum point 15. The upper jaw 13, as seen in FIG.1, carries a prong ring die 16 preferably made of a hard plasticmaterial having some degree of resiliency. The die 16 consists of a body17 having a tubular anchor pin at one end and a pair of op posed elementgripping lugs 19 at its opposite end. The anchor pin 18 is formed with aconical head 21) and a neck portion 21 that is adapted to fit into anopening 22 in the upper jaw 13. The opening 22 is of a diameter somewhatlarger than the pin neck 21 so as to provide a floating die. Thislooseness also permits the die to rotate about its own axis to changeits angular position indiscriminately relative to the jaw. The anchorpin 18 is slotted at 23 and a counter recess 24 is provided at the pointwhere said pin joins the die body, all for the purpose of enhancing theresiliency of the pin 18. It will be noted that the crest diameter ofthe pin conical head 20 is slightly larger than the jaw opening 22. Thisallows for a snap-locking action between the die 16 and the jaw 13 inassembling or removing said die.

The lugs 19 are formed as a firm integral part of the die body 17 andextend radially outwardly thereof. They also project axially beyond theouter face of said body and are provided with undercut lips 25. Acentral recess 26 is formed in the outer face of the body 17, and also apair of transverse slots or grooves 27 are provided that extend acrossthe entire width of the die body intermediate the lugs 19. The recess 26and the slots 27 afford some amount of resiliency to that portion of thebody 17 supporting the lugs 19 so that said lugs can spring outwardlywhen a prong ring 28 is snap-locked into position when being forced pastthe undercut lips 25.

A socket die 3% is carried by the opposite or lower plier jaw 14. Thedie 30, similar to the prong ring die 16 is also provided with an anchorpin 31 and opposed socket gripping lugs 32 for holding a socket member33. The anchor pin 31 similar to the anchor pin 18 of die 16 is alsoadapted to have detachable engagement in an enlarged opening 34 in thelower jaw 14 and thus provide a relative loose fit for said die to saidjaw. The socket die 31 in details of construction is the same as theprong ring die 16 except that the central recess 35 is smaller indiameter than the die recess 26 and extends further into the body of thedie for reasons as will appear later.

In order to allow the dies 16 and 3t) to self-align so that theirelement supporting faces will parallel each other during the fastenersetting operation, regardless of the thickness of material to which thefasteners are applied, at least one of the dies should have its supportbase that rests against the plier jaw formed with a convex surface sothat said die can easily rock and not interfere with the self-alignmentof the jaws. For this purpose, the base 36a of the socket die 3% isformed on a relatively large are A (see FIG. 6) with a radius R ofapproximately four times the diameter of the die body. The arcuate base30a is, in fact, an annular portion of a spherical surface thatfurnishes a suitable fulcrum point for the die for any tilted positionthe die may assume.

From FIG. 5, it will be observed that each gripping lug 32 for holdingthe socket 33 extends substantially in an arc of 60 about the upper endof the die body 319 and the lugs 19 of die 16 are of like construction.

From FIG. 2, it will be noted that the lugs 32 do not extend beyond theclincher rim of the socket 33 and preferably, the height of these lugsis slightly less than the thickness of said rim. In the prong ring die16, the lugs 19 are substantially on a common plane with the outer faceof the prong ring 23. The fact that the dies 16 and 30 are looselycarried by their respective jaws 13 and 14 allows them to rotateindiscriminately about their axes, but due to the height of the "ripperlugs, there will be no interference of the dies during the fastenersetting operation regardless of their relative rotated positions.

In the operation or" my pliers, the prong ring 28 and the socket element33 are first snapped into place in their respective dies 16 and 30. Asupport piece or garment material to which the fasteners are to beapplied will next be positioned between the jaws and properly registeredand then both the plier handles 11 and 12 will be pressed together andclinch and interlock the socket elements together from opposite sides tothe piece S.

From FIG. 3, it is to be noted that as soon as the prong of the prongring 28 and the socket element 33 contact opposite sides of the supportS and due to the relatively loose connection of the dies 16 and 30 totheir respective jaws 13 and 14, they will self-align with respect toeach other so that their axes substantially coincide with each other.This is to assure that when the dies 16 and 30 are brought together,their working faces will impart a uniform pressure against the full crcumference of the fastener parts and obtain a properly clinchedengagement of said parts upon the garment.

FIGS. 4 and 6 show how the stud 36 of the duo-type to be used with thistool is fitted into the die 30. The stud 36 is provided with the usualenlarged head 37 and clincher rim 38. The diameter of the die recess 35is such that it will have a snug fit upon the stud head 37. This is forthe purpose of assuring that the stud element Will be held in the die 39in case the dimension of the clincher rim 38 is not sufiicient to beretained in the die lugs 32.

It will be apparent that changes in details and construction andarrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the scope ofthe present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a hand-operated tool for setting snap fasteners upon sheetmaterial consisting of a pair of pliers having jaws movable toward andaway from each other, the improvement consisting of a pair of plasticdies carried by the ends of said jaws and adapted to detachably receiveparts of a snap fastener member, each of said dies consisting of a bodyhaving a recess extending axially into one of its ends, a pair ofopposed lugs formed as a, firm integral part with and radially outwardlyfrom the opposite sides of said body and extending upwardly from therecessed end, said lugs having gripping means for detachably receiving afastener part, and one or more slots extending entirely across said bodyintermediate said lugs and of suflicient depth to afford some degree ofresiliency to those portions of the body supporting the lugs.

2. In a hand-operated tool for setting snap fasteners upon sheetmaterial consisting of a pair of pliers having jaws movable toward andaway from each other, the improvement consisting of a pair of plasticdies loosely mounted on the ends of said jaws to permit relativerotation and adapted to detachably receive parts of a snap fastenermember, each of said dies consisting of a cylin drical body having arecess extending axially into one of its ends, a pair of opposed arcuatelugs formed as a firm integral part with and extending radiallyoutwardly from the opposite sides of said body and projecting axiallyupwardly from the recessed end, said lugs having gripping means fordetachably receiving a fastener part and being of such a height abovethe recessed end of said body that they will not interfere with eachother regardless of their rotated position relative to each other, and apair of slots extending through the width of said body, one of saidslots being located adjacent each of said lugs and of sufficient depthto afford some degree of resiliency to those portions of the bodysupporting the lugs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,445,908 Perkins Feb. 20, 1923 2,133,916 Churchill Oct. 18, 19382,920,325 Janes et al. Jan. 12, 1960 2,925,461 Anderson Feb. 16, 19602,979,119 Kramer Apr. 11, 1961 3,019,442 Hoeckele Feb. 6, 1962 FOREIGNPATENTS 418,639 Great Britain Oct. 29, 1934

1. IN A HAND-OPERATED TOOL FOR SETTING SNAP FASTENERS UPON SHEET MATERIAL CONSISTING OF A PAIR OF PLIERS HAVING JAWS MOVABLE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, THE IMPROVEMENT CONSISTING OF A PAIR OF PLASTIC DIES CARRIED BY THE ENDS OF SAID JAWS AND ADAPTED TO DETACHABLY RECEIVE PARTS OF A SNAP FASTENER MEMBER, EACH OF SAID DIES CONSISTING OF A BODY HAVING A RECESS EXTENDING AXIALLY INTO ONE OF ITS ENDS, A PAIR OF OPPOSED LUGS FORMED AS A FIRM INTEGRAL PART WITH AND RADIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BODY AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE RECESSED END, SAID LUGS HAVING GRIPPING MEANS FOR DETACHABLY RECEIVING A FASTENER PART, AND ONE OR MORE SLOTS EXTENDING ENTIRELY ACROSS SAID BODY INTERMEDIATE SAID LUGS AND OF SUFFICIENT DEPTH TO AFFORD SOME DEGREE OF RESILIENCY TO THOSE PORTIONS OF THE BODY SUPPORTING THE LUGS. 